This band has been on stage for 60 years. That’s impressive, it’s unique, but ultimately it’s just another of so many Stones record brands. So in truth, this is above all: the first tour without Charlie Watts. The man who died unexpectedly last August, who was so much more than just “the drummer for the Rolling Stones”.
So the concert begins with an extensive Charlie Overture in the form of a video montage with images from all phases of the career and a drum backtrack. So the obvious empty space doesn’t become an elephant in the room, but a dignified homage, which of course is mainly due to Steve Jordan in the further course. Charlie Watts is irreplaceable and no one knows that better than this man who has been a friend of the Stones for decades and was chosen by Watts himself while he was still alive. Steve Jordan is a drummer who can play anything – on this night he plays exactly what needs to be played.
Overwhelmed when the Rolling Stones enter the stage
In Munich it had rained, thundered and lightened all day, flights were cancelled, it was a clammy, soaked fear and hope to the end. But when the supporting band Reef (with Ron Wood’s son Jesse) left the stage, the sky cleared up in the most beautiful colors imaginable and the Munich Olympic Stadium got exactly the light that did justice to the legendary place as well as the band who shortly thereafter entered the stage.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones”. Even this announcement is so out of date, but also: spectacular. Even after sixty years, it is still an overwhelming moment when these men take the stage. Mick Jagger goes straight on the offensive, prances towards the jetty in an age-defying manner, Ron Wood gets a first hectic overview, Keith Richards moves the Telecaster with a soulful grin and strikes the first of so many famous chords of this evening: “Street Fighting Man”. “What can a poor boy do, except to sing for a Rock’n’Roll band.” The old question, over and over again.
Of course you imagine it. Once again the sound isn’t ideal in this huge cauldron, the tickets were absurdly overpriced again and of course Keith seems minimally disoriented at times. Munich is apparently the 116th Germany concert, as Jagger explains in charmingly clumsy German after a “Servus Minga”, and one wonders why they still do it at all, why they still play in these huge stadiums.
Another “last time”
It’s always been “the last time” for decades, but now Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are actually approaching 80, “the new guy” Ronnie Wood is already 75 years old and even the faithful companions Darryl Jones, Matt Clifford, Chuck Leavell , Tim Ries and Bernard Fowler have the years engraved on their faces.
You hardly notice it. When Mick Jagger walks the stage and catwalk in that typical Jagger goose-step, he now walks rather than runs, transposing “Rocks Off” and the higher passages of a few other songs, some rumbling and bumping. None of that matters because the real reason the Stones are still doing this to each other is evident in every second of that memorable evening in Munich: because they love it, because it’s their life, because they’re still in it are so incredibly good.
Of course, one would love to see songs like the audience vote winner “Ruby Tuesday” or the classic “Out Of Time”, which they had allegedly never played live before this tour in the 56 years of its existence, on a small scale. Because, first and foremost, the Stones are still this insanely rousing blues pub band. But where else should they please perform than in front of the tens of thousands who still want to see them night after night?
With the lockdown song “Living In A Ghosttown”, the Stones do without the stadium arrangements of most of the other songs, they play the first new song in a very long time, but the message gets through: Last but not least, the audience will be there this evening the physically noticeable release after two years of the pandemic, to finally be able to see a concert again. Symbolized by the young paramedic and her somewhat older colleagues, who, with bright eyes and dancing happily in their turnout gear, deliver the picture of the evening – the Stones obviously do more here than all the balcony clapper in the world.
In the shape of her life
We’re in the heart of the tongue now, and in that the band just keeps getting better and better song by song. The 45-minute finish line begins with “Miss You”. You’ve seen it all so often, wondering for the umpteenth time why the Stones, who have such an enormous catalogue, ultimately always go for the greatest of their countless hits. But then they play “Midnight Rambler” and although you already know roughly how the jam part is going to play out, they overwhelm you again.
This band has been in the form of their lives for about six years, which is partly due to the fact that Keith Richards has given up drinking and suddenly doesn’t miss the mark quite so often, which opens up unimagined spaces for the cleaner Ronnie Wood. In the end, “Gimme Shelter” naturally takes your breath away again, there is still no guitarist in the world that produces as much impact with just a single hit as Keith does on “Jumping Jack Flash”, you suddenly find “Start Me Up” terrific again, ” Sympathy For The Devil” rousingly intense and the obligatory conclusion with “Satisfaction” unique.
Mick Jagger sang “I can’t even feel the pain no more” at the beginning of the concert in a somewhat tripped-up version of “Rocks Off”. Presumably, these words are the real answer to the question of why: The Rolling Stones wrested another two hours from death in Munich’s Olympic Stadium. Everything was beautiful, nothing hurt. It was the last time again. Just like every evening. For 60 years.
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